Former UConn President Makes $250,000 Bequest For Scholarships To School Of Education

Former UConn Prez Hartley makes $250,000 gift for scholarships to Neag School of Education

Former University of Connecticut President Harry Hartley is making a $250,000 gift for scholarships to UConn's Neag School of Education.

The gift is part of the UConn Foundation’s campaign to raise $150 million for student scholarships and support.

Hartley's gift is a planned bequest and is designated for support of undergraduate and graduate scholarships for students in UConn's Neag School of Education. The gift will be made in the name of Hartley and his wife, Dianne.

“My parents were both teachers, so I’ve always seen the value of education,” Hartley says. “And if we can turn out better teachers, better administrators, counselors, I think it’s a net benefit to the state of Connecticut and to the country.”

Josh Newton, president of the UConn Foundation said that Hartley's "generous gift gives our scholarship push a big boost. The Neag School, and its students, will benefit immensely.’’

The scholarship initiative seeks to keep a UConn education affordable and, through merit and need scholarships, to attract high-achieving students.

Hartley's bequest will help support the Neag School’s new focus of providing fully funded scholarships for the Dean’s Doctoral Scholarship program, which was launched this past fall.

During his 31 years at UConn, Hartley served as dean of UConn’s School of Education, as vice president for finance and administration under three different UConn presidents, and for many years as a professor of educational leadership – including up until his retirement in 2003. He served as UConn president from 1990 to 1996.

According to a statement from UConn, Hartley "has gone down in university history" as the president who successfully fought for the 1995 passage of UConn 2000, the 10-year, $1 billion program to rebuild and renew the University’s infrastructure across each of its campuses.

Hartley said, “I’m looking back at all the promises I made to the legislature when we were fighting for UConn 2000: that we’d raise the SAT scores if they funded us, that the quality of applicants would be much greater, that the financial contributions to the University would be greater, that our partnerships with state industries and companies would be great, that it would lift the general quality of life in the state – if only they could see it as an investment and not an expense."